Fire director



y 1945. .1. w. ALLEN x 7 FIRE DIRECTOR Filed May 1, 1941 \l H IIIII I l/I [/17 g INVENTOR QL I BY Jbsepjz, 21810.

7 a ATTORNEY Patented July 3, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICETI'V Joseph Allen'. East Orange; N. J-., assignor to Bendix Aviation Corporation, South-Bend, 11111.,

a corporation of Delaware Application May 1, 1941, Serial No; 391,440

1 Claim.

This invention relates to fire control, and more particularly to a means for directing the fire of. a flexibly mounted aircraftweapon.

Heretofore, aircraft weapons, such as machine uns, have been flexibly mounted so that the gunner might manually bring the gun to bear upon a relatively moving target'i'n combat, or motor means have been provided to permit more facile maneuvering-oi the gun in the air-stream of a fast moving craft under control of the gunner, but the motor controls have had torque. transmitting characteristics unsuited to the best control of the weapons fire.

It is an object of the present invention to providea power operated gun director having avariable torque under the control of an operator.

Other objects of. the invention include theprovision of. a means for directing a gun in a p1urality of planes at a speed regulated by the gunner, and the provision of a power control for a gun having directional and speed characteristicsv variable under the control of the gunner.

Other objects will appear from a study of the following specification when made in conjunction with theattached drawing, throughout which likenumerals designate like parts.

Fig, 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodimenttof the present invention, and

Fig. 2 is a view, in perspective, of one form of gunners control unit adapted for use in the diagram of Fig. 1.

In accordance with the present invention, a power operated gun director is utilized for swinging a flexibly mounted gun in train and in elevation under the control of a gunner, by means of'an operating mechanism comprisinga-universally mounted control stick, the movement of which can be made to regulate the directionof rotation of the gun and the speed with which .the rotation is effected. The speed or torque characteristics of the gun director are selected by r the gunner through a variable torque clutch for controlling the torque transmitted to each of the axes of rotation of the gun.

InFig. 1, represents a flexibly mounted machineygun having a. pedestal member ll mounted on a base member l2; to which is affixed an annular beveled gear I3. The gun It) may be rotated, with respect to pedestal ll about a horizontal or 'elevational axis i4 and the gun and pedestal may be rotated as a unit about a vertical or'train' axis 15. A beveled pinion l6 carried on a splined sh'aft I1 meshes withtbeveled gear I3. Shaft H has a core portion' l3 ofsoft iron or othermagnetizable material, to which is attached" 35 have solenoids 36Iand 31, respectively, which maybe placed in circuit with battery 28 in the manner stated below.

Upon the movement of contact arm 38 to engage with contact strip 39, current flows-through conductor 30, branch lead 40', solenoid 36, conductor 41; contact strip 39, contact arm 38- and.

.back to the battery through leads 42 and 29.

When current flows in this circuit, the armature 43 of" relay 34' is attracted ownwardly from its. open-or de-energized position, thereby permitting currentito flow through field 26 of motor 24, causing'rotation of shaft 22 in one direction. If contact arm 38 is moved into engagement withcontact strip 44, relay 34"becomes de-energized, opening the circuit of field 26', but current now flows from battery 28- through conductor 30, branch. lead 45; solenoid 3.1, conductor 46, contact strip 44, contact arm 38 and back to the battery through leads 42and 29. When current flows through solenoid 31, armature 4! of relay is attracted downwardly, thus closing the motor circuit' whichin'cludes field 21. This results in rotation'of'shaft 22 in a direction opposite to that caused by energization of field 28L Bymeans. of similar circuits, motor 24"may be energized to rotatein either direction and drive gunv I0 in. elevation through a clutch 2| anda worm and gear 48.

Current from battery 28 is available toth'e' motor and relay circuits for driving gun l0 in e1e'-" vation throughconductors 49 and 50,-which conne'ct oneside of; battery 28 to relays 34' and 35' 29, 42'-,'jumper'5l and conductor 52.

Movement of contact arm 38' into engagement with contact strip 39 actuates relay 34" as. the

battery circuit becomescompleted through lead- 4i. Actuation of relay. 34" energizes-motor 24' through one of oppositely wound fields (not battery 28.

shown), similar to the fields 26 and 21 of motor 24.

When contact arm 38' is moved into engagement with contact strip 44, the battery circuit for actuating relay 35' is closed through conductor 46. Actuation of relay 35' inserts a second field member (not shown) into the motor circuit to drive motor 24' in adirection opposite to that in which it is driven upon actuation of relay 34'. The motor 24', relays 34' and 35', and

the associated leads for energizing motor 24, be-

ing all similar to the motor 24, relays 34 and and the associated leads, respectively, the identical members forming the circuit of motor 24' have been designated by the same numeral as were used in the description of the circuit of motor 24, with the addition of primes for those elements used in the circuit of motor 24'.

Movement of contact arm 38 into engagement with contact strip 39, 'also connects resistor 53 into a circuit including connector 54, lead 55,

coil 56,'conductors 5'1, 58, 49 and battery 29.

Coil 56 is a stationary solenoid wound about the magnetizable core member l8, and when current flows through coil 56, it draws core member l8 to the right, to press clutch plate 20 into engagement with plate 23. When contact arm 38 is moved only slightly in a counter-clockwise direction, the current from battery 28 must flow through the entire resistor 53, and therefore, the

tery 28 through coil 56, and core I8 presses plate" 26 into engagementwith'plate23 with maximum pressure, and the clutch plates are closely coupled, that is, the relative rotation between the clutch plates 20 and 23, is aminimum .or zero, and gun I!) is consequently rotated about axis l5 at its maximum speed. Shaft I! is splined so that lateral movement of core l8 does not affect the engagement of pinion IS with beveled gear |3.'

Movement of contact arm 38 clockwise from its neutral position, as shown, results in the insertion of a resistor 59 in circuitwith coil 56 and For reasons above explained; when the maximum resistance of resistor 59 is in circuit with battery 28, then core 18 urges plate 20 into engagement with plate 23 with minimum pressure, and the torque transmitted to s-plined shaft I1 is a minimum. This is the conditionthat obtains when contact arm 38 i moved only slightly clockwise from its neutral position. When contact arm-38 is moved .to its maximum clockwise position, all of resistor 59 is removed from the battery circuit, and the current through coil 56, being at a maximum, will attract core l8 with maximum force, and thus, clutch plates 20 and 23 will be coupled so closely that the torque transmitted to shaft I1 is a maximum, and gun I0 is thus rotated in train at its greatest speed.

Between the minimum and maximum conditions of torque transmission, varying amounts of torque may be transmitted from shaft 22 to shaft ll, depending upon the amount of resistance of either resistor 53, or resistor-'59, that is left in circuit with battery 28. As the amount of resistance in the circuit depends upon the amount of movement of contact arm 38 from its neutral position, it will be seen that the torque transmitted from motor 24 to gun It! in the train axis depends upon the amount of movement of contact arm 38 from its neutral position.

As the circuits associated with contact arm 38' for delivering variable torque to worm and. gear 48 are identical to the variable torque. circuits just described, and since the identical components of the circuits connected with contact arm 38' are designated by prime equivalentsof the same components associated with contact arm 38, it is believed that the operation of the variable torque supplying means for drivin gun I0 about the horizontal or elevational axis I4 will be clear without further description.

Fig. 2 shows a universally mounted control 9 column 60, which is operated by a gunner to direct the fire of gun I 6 in elevation and train, either separately or simultaneously, at varying speeds. Control column 66 is shown in its neutral position; that is, gun. I!) is at rest. Control column 60 is connected by means of trunnions 6| to a ring member 62, and has suitable bearings (not shown), so that trunnions 6| may be oscillated abouttheir axis with respect to ring 62 upon motion of column 60. At right angles to trunnions 6|, ring 62 is borne on two co-axial shaft members, 63 and 64, which are rigidly connected to ring 62. One end of shaft 64 is carried in a suitable bearing member such as the ball-bearing and race member 65. Member 65 is carried by a wall of housing member 66, which may be of cast metal or molded'plastic material. The oute end of shaft 63 carries contact arm 38, so that momember 69.

tion of control column 60, to rotate shaft 63, will cause contact arm 38 to engage with contact strip 39 and resistor 53, or contact strip and resistor .5 9.

Housing 66 also carries co-axial shaft members 6'! and 68 at right angles to shaft members 63 and 64. The outer end of shaft 61 is connected to contact arm 38, while the other end is rigidly connected to one end of a slotted yoke The outer end of shaft 68 is carried in a ball-bearing member 10 fixed toa wall of housing 66, and the inner end of shaft 68 is rigidl connected to the opposite end of yoke member 69. The arcuate slot H in yoke member 69 has just sufficient width to permit control column 69 to slide therealong without excessive clearance. Motion of control column 66 to rotate yoke 69 and shaft 61 will cause contact arm 38' to be moved into engagement with contact strip 39 and resistor 53', or contact strip 44 and resistor 59'.

It will be readily appreciated that when control column is moved only in a plane at right angles to shaft 63, there will be no rotation of shaft 61, and when column 60 is rotated only in a plane at right angles to shaft 61, no rotation will be imparted to shaft 63. When, however, column 60 has a component of motion in each of these planes, then components of the total motionwill cause rotation of shaft 63 and shaft 61. When only shaft 63 is rotated, gun I0 is rotated only in train. When shaft 6'! alone is rotated, gun I0 is rotated only in elevation. When both of shafts 63 and 61 are rotated, gun l0 will have motion both in train and in elevation.

It will be understood from the preceding description that the direction of rotation of gun [0 about either the train or the elevational axis,

is governed by the direction of movement of column 60, and the Speed of rotation of gun I!) about these axes is governed by the amount of,

movement of column 60 from neutral, so that a gunner may bring gun ID to bear upon its target either slowly or quickly, depending upon combat requirements. If desired, a button 12, for actuation of the conventional trigger relay, may be incorporated into hand grip 13 of control column 60.

While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. -For this reason, it is intended not to limit the invention by the description herein given as an example, but solely by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A power control system including a first reversible motor, a second reversible motor, a control column, means actuated by said control column and in circuit with each of said motors for selecting the direction of rotation of said motors in accordance with the direction of movement of said control column, electromagnetic clutch means in circuit with said motors and actuated by said control column, and continuously variable resistance means in circuit with said control column and said electromagnetic clutch means to transmit currents to said electromagnetic clutch means varying in accordance with the amount'of movement of said control column from a determined neutral postion, whereby the torque transmitted to each of said motors through said electromagnetic clutch means will vary in accordance with the amount of movement of said control column from the neutral position.

JOSEPH W. ALLEN. 

